Head To Head
Log In
Register
Unsung Forum »
When did you get in touch with Julian Cope music?
Log In to post a reply

88 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
Moon Cat
9577 posts

Edited Jul 12, 2010, 17:57
Re: When did you get in touch with Julian Cope music?
Jul 12, 2010, 17:00
IanB wrote:



I really hated baggy and Acid House - hated the music. Really hated the look. There are a couple of tracks by the Roses and Mondays that were ok (usually because of someone else's production ideas) but the likes of The Milltown Bros, The Farm, Flowered Up, Inspiral Carpets etc were really not meant for me. Neither were the drugs de jour. Can you really see any of that lot coming up with "Hanging Out" , "Promised Land" or "You"? To be fair I was probably 5 years too old for all that. I can see how it might have seemed different if you were 17 - 25 in 1991 and had grown up with the worst of the early and mid 80s.


I was in MADchester (gleep!) right at the heart of the whole acid house/baggy thing, and, though I concur a lot of the tunes were poo, the sense of good times and energy was palpable (and no, not just cos of a 'cheeky half'), and I have to say, a fuck of a lot more fun than the post Oasis guitar drabness of later years. I think the Roses, Mondays and Inspirals were deserved of their big 3 status, cos, in the end, they simply had better songs than the myriad also-rans. That said, whoulda thunk the Charlatans (destined to be someone's 4th fave band forever) would prove to be the ultimate survivors?

Thing is, like most scenes, the baggy bands had a least one genius tune in their repetoire and a lot of filler inbetween. It was never really an album thing (although I think the Big 3 did some good albums), it was about tracks being played out in clubs. It was always odd that the Inspirals got lumped in with it all really. True, they stitched a couple of funky shuffles onto some songs, but at their heart they were a keys driven garage rock band that got baggied up.

Another, IMO, good thing about that time was the hearing of really squelchy acid house proper and some sterling techno. Such a pleasing thing to hear Phuture track followed by a Stone Roses track in clubs, or a an Orbital track played along side a Charlatans track. Madchester had some amazing dance stuff providing the soundtrack, a wider selection of electronica than the Melody Maker or NME would report on.

Mind you, like you, I was never much of a fan of the 'look'. I liked the psychedelic thing, but not in the form of a shapeless mass (although I do own an of the time Joe Bloggs purple top which I still love AND a James Tour tour sweat shirt with a big, Baggy flower on it which is still cute). I used to compromise with a kind of goth/bright colours hybrid. Confused?! You Will be!

Anyhoo, it was all doomed, like these things are, to peter out, but fun times were had up this end (ooer!)
Topic Outline:

Unsung Forum Index